Applied Thermal Engineering 20 (2000) 11051111

www.elsevier.com/locate/apthermeng

Cavity geometry inuence on mass ow rate for single and

double slope solar stills
Eduardo Rubio a,*, Miguel A. Porta a, Jose L. Fernandez b
Area de Ingeniera. CIBNOR, S.C. Apdo. Postal 128, La Paz, B.C.S. 23000, Mexico
b
Instituto de Ingeniera. UNAM. Cd. Universitaria, Mexico, D.F. 04510, Mexico

Received 13 May 1999; accepted 27 September 1999

Abstract
An experimental setup was built in order to evaluate the distillate yield for a double slope laboratory
still under controlled conditions for basin water and collector temperatures within typical operating
ranges. Additionally, experimental data previously gathered are correlated to propose a new empirical
model to estimate mass ow rates in single slope solar stills. This model is compared with those from
other published relations and with the double slope still experimental data. It was found that the
proposed model reproduces in good agreement shallow stills experimental data and that there is not
signicant dierence in productions between single and double slope cases subject to the same water and
cover temperature. Dunkle's model [R.V. Dunkle, Solar water distillation: the roof type still and a
multiple eect diusion still, International Development in Heat Transfer (Part 5) (1961) 895902] is
found to slightly underestimate production in shallow solar stills. 7 2000 Elsevier Science Ltd. All
rights reserved.
Keywords: Experimental; Solar still; Mathematical model; Distillate rate

1. Introduction
Total heat transfer within the cavity of a solar still is a combined eect of convection,
radiation and evaporation. The fraction of the energy corresponding to the evaporative
* Corresponding author.
E-mail address: erubio@cibnor.mx (E. Rubio).
1359-4311/00/$ - see front matter 7 2000 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.
PII: S 1 3 5 9 - 4 3 1 1 ( 9 9 ) 0 0 0 8 5 - X

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E. Rubio et al. / Applied Thermal Engineering 20 (2000) 11051111

Nomenclature
A
hc
hfg
me
Pw
Pg
qe
Tw
Tg
Tw
X
DT 

area (m2)
convective heat transfer coecient (W m2 K1)
latent heat of vaporization, (J kg1)
mass transfer rate (kg m2 s1)
partial pressure of water vapor at Tw (Pa)
partial pressure of water vapor at Tg (Pa)
heat transfer by evaporation (W m2)
dimensionless water temperature
glass cover temperature (K)
water temperature (K)
mean experimental temperature (8C)
dimensionless water-to-cover temperature dierence

mechanisms, for operation at high temperatures, has been found to have the most signicant
eect in the internal eciency [2], followed by radiation and convection. This fact and the
interest in models to simulate this phenomena has led to the well known Dunkle's relations [1]
that consider the association of heat and mass transfer, which, according to Malik et al. [3],
expressed in S.I. units, are given by Eq. (1)(3). The convective heat transfer is
 1=3


Pw Pg
Tw
1
hc 0:884 Tw Tg
268:9  103 Pw
and the relation for the evaporative heat transfer rate from the analogy between heat and mass
transfer is

2
qe 16:273  10 3 hc Pw Pg
from which the distillate yield is calculated as follows
me qe =hfg

All equations in this paper are presented in international units as proposed by various authors
[46].
Comparative studies for the mass ow rate are found in the literature, like Clark's work [7],
who presents results from the use of Eq. (4) which includes a modied convective heat transfer
coecient, and Adhikari et al. [8], that establishes the validity of correlations for estimating
mass transfer rates.

4
me 0:35  10 8 hc Pw Pg
It has been reported that cover inclination does not have a strong eect on thermal
performance for angles from 0 to 608 [2], but recent work suggests the use of Holland equation
for at plate collectors in solar stills to include this eect in the convective heat transfer [9,10].

E. Rubio et al. / Applied Thermal Engineering 20 (2000) 11051111

1107

Empirical equations for mass transfer rate, with close agreement with those derived by
Dunkle, show a linear function of dierence and surface temperatures [11]:



 Tw Tg
5:23
10
5
me 22:78 5:66  10 1:8Tw 459:7
107
Another so-called semi-empirical equation to estimate glass cover temperature as a function of
water, ambient and sky temperatures [12,13] has been used with modied Dunkle's relations
that include a wind heat transfer coecient, and showed small errors in predictions when
compared with the numerical solution.
2. Experimental work
A double slope laboratory still set-up was built with controlled water and glass cover
temperatures as shown in Fig. 1.
Water temperature control was accomplished with a closed-loop computer controlled system
and an electric heater under the basin.
To control glass covers temperatures, a thin steel channel was installed over the condensing
glasses to let a sheet of cold air to ow over the surface of the glazings. Two control valves
were installed at the inlet of the channels to regulate the air ow. DC electric motors were
coupled to the plates of the valves to regulate ow and maintain a constant temperature over
the condensing plates with the control system. Cold air was obtained from an air conditioning
equipment. Reference temperatures for set point control were obtained from solid state
temperature measurement devices for the condensers and thermocouple thermometers for the
basin water temperature.
An acquisition data system was implemented with a scanning thermocouple recorder

Fig. 1. Double slope automatically controlled experimental still.

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E. Rubio et al. / Applied Thermal Engineering 20 (2000) 11051111

equipment connected via serial port to the computerized system along with calibrated J-type
thermocouple temperature sensors for continuous recording of each glass cover and water
surface temperature. Thermocouples were installed on the inner surface of the covers and
surface of basin water, and distillate yield was collected at intervals of 1 h for each temperature
considered.
3. Results and discussion
Experimental data reported for shallow solar stills by Porta et al. [14] shows that heat ow
from water to cover can be approximated as a linear dependence on the absolute water
temperature and water-to-cover temperature dierences. These data were correlated and a new
empirical equation for estimating mass ow rate from water temperature and water-to-cover
temperature dierence was derived. Temperatures were taken dimensionless within the
experimental ranges and the following relation was obtained:


T
T
6
me 0:11DT  14:4 w 0:005228:16 w kg m 2 h 1
where
T w

Tw 293:15
55

and DT 

Tw Tg
17

for 293 < Tw < 348 and 1:5 < Tw Tg < 17:
Results from this model for dierent brine temperatures are shown in Fig. 2. A comparison
between experimental data in the shallow, single-sloped solar still, and the developed model for
selected water temperatures and water-to-cover temperature dierences, is shown in Table 1.
Additionally, controlled conditions were established in the double slope unit for various
absolute water temperatures and water-to-cover temperature dierences within the permitted

Fig. 2. Shallow still mass ow rate model.

E. Rubio et al. / Applied Thermal Engineering 20 (2000) 11051111

1109

Table 1
New model vs. experimental results
Tw (K)

318.3
327.4
336.9
346.8

Tw Tg (K)

6.8
11
10.6
10.1

Production (kg m2 h1)

Percentage dierence (%)

Experimental data [14]

New model Eq. (6)

0.18
0.45
0.69
0.99

0.173
0.417
0.647
1.018

3.8
7.3
6.2
2.8

ranges of the experimental equipment. Data were calculated for these conditions by using
Clark's [7], Dunkle's [1] and Cooper's [11] equations, and for the developed shallow model Eq.
(1). Correlation of results is shown in Fig. 3. There is a clear tendency of the proposed model
for shallow stills to predict higher rates of distillate, which increase as temperature dierences
are higher. Experimental data of the double slope laboratory still are very close to the
proposed model, meanwhile Dunkle's model [1] and Battelle Memorial Institute (BMI)
equation as cited by Cooper [11] estimate lower rates. As expected, Clark's model [7] results in
the lowest distillate production because his heat transfer coecient is dened as half of the
others.

Fig. 3. Mass ow rate models comparison.

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E. Rubio et al. / Applied Thermal Engineering 20 (2000) 11051111

4. Experimental uncertainties
Glazing and water temperatures were measured with J-type thermocouples with a limit of
error less than 0.75%, connected to a scanning thermocouple equipment with an accuracy of
20:18C. Each temperature experimental point was taken from 4 h of data sampled each 20 s,
and according to Keenan [15], the 95% condence interval for the mean temperatures were

calculated as X20:1458C.
5. Conclusions
Experimental data reported in this work for a laboratory double slope still show a very close
agreement with single slope shallow stills and demonstrates that distillate production is
independent of the cavity geometry for small equipments subjected to the same water and
cover temperatures. The proposed model for shallow stills reproduces those experimental data
in good agreement, so it can be used in numerical work to predict distillate yield from inside
temperatures. Comparison of results of this model with other authors reects that existing
models underpredict productions for small stills.
Acknowledgements
This project was supported by Consejo Nacional de Ciencia y Tecnolog a (CONACyT),
Mexico.
References
[1] R.V. Dunkle, Solar water distillation: the roof type still and a multiple eect diusion still, International
Development in Heat Transfer, ASME Proceedings (Part 5) (1961) 895902.
[2] P.I. Cooper, W.R.W. Read, Design philosophy and operating experience for Australian solar stills, Solar
Energy 16 (1974) 1.
[3] M.A.S. Malik, G.N. Tiwari, A. Kumar, M.S. Sodha, in: Solar Distillation, Pergamon Press, Oxford, 1982, pp.
1114.
[4] R.N. Morse, W.R.W. Read, A rational basis for the engineering development of a solar still, Solar Energy 12
(1968).
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still, Heat Recovery Systems and CHP 14 (1994) 4.
[10] G.N. Tiwari, S.A. Lawrence, New heat and mass transfer relations for a solar still, Energy conversion and
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[11] P.I. Cooper, Heat and mass transfer within a solar still envelope, Internal Report, Battelle Memorial Institute,
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[12] V.B. Sharma, S.C. Mullick, Estimation of heat-transfer coecients, the upward heat ow, and evaporation in a
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[15] J. Keenan, Statistical Techniques for Data Analysis, Lewis Publishers, Michigan, 1990, p. 66.